Following the tragic shooting in Arizona this past weekend that left six dead and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition after surviving a gun shot to the head, local legislators are focusing their attention on beefing up security. The public is suddenly hyper-aware of threats to lawmakers, like the one received by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis; U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush is planning on moving his office to a safer location; and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is, in the midst of anger over the size of the federal government, calling on Congress to increase members' budgets to add to their security detail.

But the problem, of course, is deeper than simply money or even safety. Politicians are constantly toeing the line between their security and access to their consituents. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley called any suggestion of 24-hour security for lawmakers "wildly expensive and impractical." Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel, who helped recruit Giffords to run for office when he was the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, said security is something he worries about, but that he "would never want to remove [himself] from hearing directly from people."

Indeed, that is precisely what Giffords was doing when she was shot. Speaking about the importance of giving access to constituents, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky told WIND's Big John & Amy that the "ability to freely interact" with voters is "one of the most precious things about our democracy." Listen to her comments below (and hear the full interview here):